https://ion8.net/keeping-cash-flow-on-track-with-reminders-in-zoho-books/
Interruptions in invoice payments can seriously mess with your business’s cash flow, leading to disarray in the accuracy of your organizational budgeting, forecasting, and other critical business analytics. We’ve all been there — the due date for a payment has arrived and still nothing from the client. In a world that never stops, it can be all too easy to forget about a payment or a bill. We wait and wait and attempt to reach out, but it takes up your valuable time and causes stress. Wouldn’t it be perfect if you could automatically send overdue clients reminders to pay their unpaid invoices? Maybe your business even needs a little prodding from time to time to remind you to pay bills.
How much easier would it be for everybody to have reminders sent out automatically? Ideally, you and your clients would be able to plan for paying invoices and bills by the due date, or as soon as humanly possible after receiving a reminder. By using the Reminders feature in Zoho Books, your clients and your business will never forget to pay an invoice or a bill ever again, your business’s financial analytics will always remain accurate, and you’ll be paid faster than ever before.
Using Reminders in Zoho Books
It’s all too easy to forget a payment, which is why Zoho Books features Reminders, an easy way to automatically remind clients or yourself about overdue invoices and bills. Reminders can be set to work in two ways — manually or automatically. Manual Reminders can be quickly sent to any clients who currently have invoices in Overdue or Sent status, allowing you to send out customized reminders to any customers who may have lapsed in payment or who are about to reach Overdue status.
With Automated Reminders, your team can establish criteria for when reminders should be sent out to clients based on how far past the due date each client is or on the expected payment date. From there, Zoho Books takes care of everything by automatically reminding clients about payments based on the criteria you’ve established. Automated Reminders for Bills can also be generated to remind yourself about upcoming payments, taking the pressure off your team having to remember each individual payment, instead receiving a gentle reminder ahead of the payment date. In each Reminder, you can lay out options for clients that will encourage them to pay in a timely manner, including laying out options for them to make a convenient online payment.
How to set up Reminders in Zoho Books
Setting reminders in Zoho Books is easy, and means getting paid faster. First, you’ll need to decide whether Manual Reminders or Automated Reminders will work best for your situation.
To send out a Manual Reminder, you’ll first need to enable them and configure it to your liking. To do this, navigate to Settings — Reminders, and choose Manual Reminders. In this section, you’ll be able to create a reminder that best suits the situation in your own words, conveying to your client that a payment has been missed and laying out options for them to pay it. Save this reminder, choose the invoice on which the payment has been missed, select More Actions, and then Send Reminder.
Automated Reminders will also need to be enabled before they can be sent out. To do this, head over to Settings — Reminders, choose Automated Reminders and then select Turn On. You’ll be able to configure reminders to your liking, and set a time for them to be sent. Once you’ve enabled Automated Reminders, you’ll be able to use up to 30 of them at any time, and have the option to remind yourself and your client that a payment due date is quickly approaching or has already passed, keeping everybody on the same page.
If you’d like to create an Automated Reminders for Bills, you can do this by navigating to Settings — Reminders, and then Automated Reminders — Bills. Select Turn On and configure the reminder to your liking, including the duration of the reminder and who it should be sent to. After you’ve done this, you can be sure that your team will never again forget that a bill is quickly coming due.
By using Reminders in Zoho Books, you can rest easy knowing that invoices will be paid in full, and reduce the chances of lapsed payments happening in the future. When it comes to accounts receivable, the longer an invoice goes unpaid, the harder it becomes for your business to collect — this makes reminders like these even more important. If your business has repeatedly had a difficult time collecting payments and paying bills, hiring a bookkeeper can be a low cost solution that pays for itself in just a few hours every week or month.
ion8’s very talented team includes an accounting professional who specializes in all things Zoho Books, ensuring that you get paid on time and in full, and that your accounts are always paid on time. To get your books in order and ensure consistently accurate financial analytics, get in touch with the team at ion8 today.
